Defending the Grid in the Age of AI: Matt Duncan on Electric Sector Security

Matt Duncan (0:00)

Unfortunately, AI gives a capability to that teenager, provided they have enough tokens, that was not available to anybody except China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and other nation states before. So you almost are seeing the democratization of cyber attacks, which should scare us all. But thankfully, I think the industry realizes what is happening and is trying to scale up to defend. Because ultimately, the only way to defend against AI is to use AI.

Todd Snitchler (0:32)

Welcome to the Energy Solutions Podcast. I'm Todd Snitchler, President and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association. October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, but for the electric sector, protecting the grid is a 24-7 responsibility. The threat landscape facing the energy system is changing rapidly. Nation state actors are increasingly targeting critical infrastructure, artificial intelligence is making sophisticated cyber capabilities more accessible, and the grid is continuing to face new vulnerabilities. Preparing for those threats requires more than technology. It requires sharing information, building strong relationships, and working together so utilities, power producers, government agencies, and other partners can learn from one another and act before a threat becomes a real problem. Joining me today is Matt Duncan, Vice President of Security Operations and Intelligence at the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or the E-ISAC.

Matt has spent his career working at the intersection of national security, government, and critical infrastructure, including roles at the Pentagon, the Department of Energy, and working overseas. Today, he leads security operations and intelligence at the E-ISAC, helping the electricity sector identify threats, share information, and strengthen its cyber and physical security posture. In this episode, Matt and I discuss how the threat landscape is evolving, the growing role of artificial intelligence in both attacks and defense, why protecting digital identities has become as important as protecting the network itself, and how information sharing can help the industry get ahead of emerging threats. We also talk about physical security, supply chain risks, the importance of exercises like GridX and EPSA's GenX, and what utilities and power producers can do today to prepare for the threats of tomorrow. Here's our conversation.

Matt, I want to thank you for joining us on Energy Solutions today. It is Cybersecurity Month, and there's nobody better I can think of than you to talk about the important issues facing the energy system on a broad sense. And so we're going to dig into a bunch of things here. But I think it's always helpful for new listeners or people who haven't heard you talk before to kind of get a little bit of your background. You've spent time in your career working really at the intersection of national security, government, critical infrastructure, all of the things that are relevant to how we make sure that we keep the lights on here. So can you tell us just a little bit about your career path and what ultimately brought you to the E-ISAC?

Matt Duncan (2:58)

Well, thanks, Todd. And for me, it's always cybersecurity month, so I'm glad to get on and chat with you today. So really two things brought me here.

One is I like to tell stories and to my grandmother.

So stories I think are among the most powerful ways to unite people, drive action and get things done. I think a lot of folks really like to get things done, get them built, get them secure. And that's something I get to do every day at the E-Isaac. My grandmother actually didn't have electricity when she was born in the 30s. And thanks to the Rural Electrification Act, she finally got access to that in Nebraska and then went on to a career at PG&E in California. So when this opportunity became available, seemed like a natural fit.

Oh, that's great.

Todd Snitchler (3:47)

That's how you bring it home, right? Make it personal. So, well, you've been in a number of roles, and that includes at the Pentagon, Department of Energy, to working overseas in Afghanistan, and then moving into the electric sector security. So how has your national security experience kind of influenced the way you think about threats to the grid, and how the role the private sector has kind of integrates with our government partners, and how we're all working collaboratively to protect that critical infrastructure that's so instrumental to our way of life?

Matt Duncan (4:16)

Well, unfortunately, the oceans don't protect us the way they used to, and critical infrastructure now is seemingly on the front lines of a global cyberwar, frankly. Physical security, too. And one of the interesting convergences of my time at the Pentagon, at the PRT in Helmand, Afghanistan, is that it all is about getting the right people together to share the right information, to accomplish an objective.